


Worth a Thousand Words

by tucuxi



Series: Voltron RarePair Week 2017 [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Embarrassment, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Pidge | Katie Holt Being a Little Shit, Pidge | Katie Holt Swears Like a Sailor, Shipping If You Squint, Voltron Rarepair Week 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-23 20:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9675128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tucuxi/pseuds/tucuxi
Summary: Pidge is a girl.  The castle is a ship, and Pidge is a girl.  And he’s not dead, and the castle is a ship.  And Pidge is a girl.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Voltron Rare Pairs Week 2017, Prompt #1: Past/Present.

Pidge is a girl.  The castle is a ship, and Pidge is a girl.  And he’s not dead, and the castle is a ship.  And _Pidge is a girl_.

Lance feels his head spinning, and it’s not the way he was all fuzzy after getting out of the cryo-pod.  He follows everyone to the bridge and sneaks glances at him — her — at _Pidge_ and can’t figure out how he didn’t get it when everyone else did.  Pidge has always been too interesting for his — dammit, _her_ — own good, which is part of why Lance dragged Hunk out to follow Pidge to the roof, didn’t tell Hunk not to go through Pidge’s bag when they were at Keith’s shack.  He’d just assumed that picture was Pidge’s girlfriend — but if that was _Pidge_ in a sundress — Lance snaps back to himself when Coran announces the distress beacon.

And, so, yeah, taking Nyma into the castle and letting her chain him to a tree was pretty stupid, but Lance was distracted, okay?  It’s not every day you find out your comm operator is a crossdressing girl trying to save their alien-abducted family, right?  Lance really hopes it’s not every day.  If Keith turns out to be a girl he’s seriously going to lose it, because Keith is pretty enough as it is.

Lance shakes his head, bangs it against a nearby rock.  He did _not_ just think that Keith — asshole, dropout, mullet-y Keith — was pretty.  He can hear the others through the comms, chattering as they chase Rolo and Nyma, Keith being an ass, but he has a lot of time to think while he lies on the ground chained to this stupid tree.

Finally Pidge, whose lion is smallest, darts over and hops out of Green’s mouth.

“My god,” she says, and the smirk is visible from even this distance.  And then she proves that even if she’s a girl, she’s still _Pidge_ , still a complete bastard, because she pulls her phone out from somewhere and takes a goddamned picture.

“I hate you,” Lance says.  “You little shit, if you show that to Keith—“

“I’m sorry,” Pidge says, “I didn’t quite hear that.  Was that ‘Thank you for saving my stupid ass from the tree an alien lady chained me to after leading my around by my dick?’”

Lance sighs.

“It wasn’t —“ he starts, but honestly, this is pretty damn bad.  “Thank you for saving me, Pidge,” he says, “now will you unchain me already, I’m getting arm cramps and these rocks are really uncomfortable!”

Pidge grins and shoots out her bayard, which severs the cuffs — but also gives Lance a nasty shock.  Pidge giggles, and then offers Lance a hand up when he’s still dizzy.

“I don’t care if you’re a girl now,” Lance hears himself say, “you’re still a little shit.”

Pidge sticks a tongue out, and runs toward Green’s open mouth.

“Come on,” she hollers, “last one back’s a rotten egg!  Let’s beat Shiro to the castle!”

They don’t beat the others to the Castle, but Lance doesn’t really mind, until Pidge pulls out her phone.

“Oh no you don’t!” Lance yells, because he has siblings, he knows how this works.  He dives for Pidge’s knees and takes her down before she can swipe to the camera, and pins Pidge to keep the phone out of anyone's reach.

Then he freezes, knees on each side of Pidge’s chest, pinning her hands.  Pidge is a _girl_ and he has her pinned, shit, shit, shit.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t —“ Lance babbles, jumping up, “I made it weird, Pidge, I’m sorry — I wasn’t thinking —“

Pidge flashes a grin, still sprawled out on the floor, and that is definitely not doing weird things to Lance’s feelings, definitely not.  Then she pulls up the photo.

“You are such a sucker, Lance,” she says, and hands the phone around.  Hunk ends up holding it up out of Lance’s reach, and that’s just not fair, so Lance climbs him like a tree, and is balanced on his shoulders reaching for the phone while Keith grabs at it from Hunk’s other side when Shiro and Allura walk in.

“— good work out there,” Allura is saying, and then she freezes.  “My goodness,” she says, eyes sparkling, and Lance is never going to live this down.  I mean, he knew he’d never have a chance with a stunning alien princess, but this?  This is the nail in the coffin.

“ _Coja mi vida_ ” Lance says, and flops to the ground dramatically.  Keith grabs the phone, and Shiro takes it from him, frowning.

“Oh,” Allura says.  “You really _were_ chained to a tree.”

Lance feels his face flaming as he stands.  He was wrong.  That's the nail in his coffin. 

“Yup,” he says, “that’s me.”  He shoots a glare at Pidge.  “I’ll just go — check on Blue.”  He tries not to stomp out, because nobody likes a sore loser, but he’s never been good at hiding his feelings.

“Lance,” Shiro calls, but Lance doesn’t stop.  

Pidge finds him sitting in Blue’s hangar.  She’s the only one in the castle who sounds that light on their feet.

“Hey,” she says, and he hears her scuff a toe.  Lance doesn’t look up.  

“Lance,” she says, “I’m sorry.  I didn’t think you’d take it like that.”  

“What,” Lance says, still not looking over.  “Did you think I’d be happy about it?”  He stares at Blue.  He’s not going to cry about a stupid photograph.  He’s not.  

“I—“ Pidge walks into his field of vision.  “I wasn’t thinking, okay?  Ma—“ she takes a breath.  “Matt wouldn’t have minded, you know?”  Lance looks up, because this is the first time he’s heard her say her brother’s name.  “You’re a little like him, is all,” Pidge says.  

Great, Lance thinks.  He’s just been friend-zoned.  Brother-zoned.  Whatever-the-hell-this-is-zoned.

“Anyway,” Pidge says, “we’re getting close to the Balmera.  Can you come talk Hunk down?  You can still be mad at me, but we really need someone to talk him out of his head, and you’re best at that, you know?”  

She holds out a hand.  Lance blinks.  Then he takes it.  

“Not that mad at you,” Lance says, as they walk out.  “Mostly at myself.  I mean, who even gets chained to a tree by a hot alien chick?  What the hell has my life turned into, it’s like I'm Captain Kirk or something.” 

Pidge snorts.  

“Lance, man,” she says, “I hate to break it to you, but when Kirk gets chained to things, the aliens didn’t usually _run away with the Enterprise_.”  She sticks her tongue out, and breaks into a run, so of course Lance has to chase her.  

They’re panting and laughing when they get back to the bridge, and Shiro gives them a brief, approving nod.  

“Now,” Lance says, turning to face Hunk, who is staring at his fingers the way he always does when he’s really worried, “Hunk, my man, tell me what’s going on.” 

This can’t be worse than the time he talked Hunk out of dropping out of the Garrison after their first simulator failure.  Can it?  

Out of the corner of his eye, Pidge gives him a thumbs-up.  

Lance has so got this.

**Author's Note:**

> Find this [on Tumblr for easy reblogging](http://tucuxi1.tumblr.com/post/157155762298/worth-a-thousand-words-tucuxi-voltron).


End file.
